Changing Babylon!
Deuteronomy 8:3 says, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word which proceeds from the mouth of God.'
A prominent young music star said, 'I need to take drugs just to numb my inner pain.' Materially, he had access to more than he could ever need, yet his soul craved more. Shortly after making that statement he took his own life.
If ever there was a generation which knows in its heart that real life cannot be sustained by material things alone, it is the generation of which we are a part. In over 20 years of speaking to and leading young people, I have never met a generation which is so hungry for something beyond the natural.
The hearts of today's young generations resonate with the claims of the X-files, that there is a truth 'out there' beyond what our senses alone can tell us.
These generations, X and Y, do not accept what some of their grandparents did, that all of reality can be - or one day will be - understood and measured by science. They know that there is more to real life than meets the natural eye.
Chris Carter, creator of the X-files, has reportedly said that he is a non-religious person looking for 'a religious experience'. He was speaking for his generation and the next!
Education without Revelation
Actually, deep down, human beings have always thirsted for transcendant meaning, for a truth which is beyond the reach of technology.
This is because God designed us to learn above all by revelation. Education is important. Christians should develop and use their minds - this is part of Jesus' great commandment. But the highest form of learning given to us by our creator is not education but revelation.
Revelation is of greater importance because its goal is higher - the knowledge of God and his ways. As far as God is concerned, if we are going to boast of knowing anything, we should boast of knowing and understanding him (Jeremiah 9:24).
We were created to know God - personally and existentially, through his interraction with our everyday life and experience.
Sadly, people today have grown up in a world where they are offered technology without truth, and education without revelation.
One of the reasons we face such trauma over issues like gene mapping, cloning and genetically modified foods, is that we have shoved God and his moral laws to one side.
Why? Because we've been taught that revelation is an outmoded concept, that spiritual or moral truth is of less importance than technological progress.
In the midst of our confusion over the technologies around us, we are crying as did king Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon: 'I have had a dream and it troubles me.'
As in that time, people today are looking for a Daniel who can boldly declare, and prove, that 'there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries.'
How can we become Daniel's for our Babylon? How can we help point people in the direction of divine revelation and godly insight?
1. We must be 'naturally supernatural'.
According to the verse at the start of this article, revelation does not speak first to the rational mind but to the intuitive part of us.
It is the spirit which receives a word from God. Interestingly, in the Hebrew version of this verse, there is no word for 'word'. It says something like this, '…by every proceeding forth from the mouth of God.'
Revelation does not come first in words, or to the rational mind. So we must be a people who learn to tune in that inner spiritual ear to hear God's wavelength. We need those times every day of tuning into where God is speaking.
At the same time, we must keep our feet on the ground and live in the real world - as the Old Testament prophets did.
Daniel actually spoke Babylonian and was, in the eyes of the authorities there, included among the astrologer class. He spoke the language, he lived among the real people, which is why his revelation had such a powerful effect. He could put God's word into a context they understood.
2. We must be practically minded.
Revelation may be conceived in mystery but it is always birthed in history. It always looks for a practical outlet in our everyday lives, it will always seek to meet a need and work God's will into our lives.
To become a person of ongoing, growing revelation, we must be committed to meeting needs, and not receiving revelation just for the exercise, or to make us look good!
3. We must be willing to obey.
I'm sure Isaiah didn't understand his vision of a suffering Messiah, yet he spoke it out. Joel could not have understood the full meaning of his words about an outpouring of the Spirit on all flesh, yet he was obedient to the vision.
We need to be willing to obey the revelation even when we don't fully understand it at the time.
As my good friend Winkie Pratney has it, while the world says 'Hear a thing, then understand it, then do it,' God says, 'Hear a thing, do it, and then you will understand it (maybe!)'
Our Babylon needs Daniel's with the spiritual sensitivity, the compassion and the courage to speak on God's behalf.
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